


Valentimes

by Chash



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 20:08:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13688916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chash/pseuds/Chash
Summary: In theory, Clarke should be having a good Valentine’s Day. But her boyfriend is boycotting and her favorite coworker is getting fired, so it’s not looking great, so far.





	Valentimes

**Author's Note:**

> Just some quick Valentine fluff! Based on the third story in [this post](http://www.askamanager.org/2018/02/the-vanishing-microwave-and-other-stories-of-workplace-romance-gone-both-wrong-and-right.html).
> 
> Also the title isn’t a typo, it’s a 30 Rock reference that looks like a typo.

In theory, Clarke should be having a good Valentine's Day. She's a person who is ideally positioned to be enjoying herself, and it’s kind of bullshit that she isn’t, honestly.

"I have a boyfriend," she tells Bellamy.

"You do," he says. "But he didn't get you anything, and he thinks the whole thing is stupid.”

"Yeah, but it's not like he's _wrong_. Valentine's Day is kind of bullshit."

"You don't have to talk yourself out of being annoyed about this. You told him you wanted to do something, right?"

"I don't need him to serenade me or anything," she says, with a sigh. "Or write me a poem or whatever. But it's still a thing, right? We could at least have a nice dinner."

"I know. I'm on your side here, remember?"

"I remember," she says, smiling. That much she’s sure of, for all she finds Bellamy a little--confusing, sometimes. He's been working at Ark Printing three days a week for the past few months, and at first, Clarke assumed he was lazy or unmotivated or something. Since then, she's realized he mostly has no real natural aptitude for screen-printing, and no other artistic talent at all, and this is one of three part-time jobs he's working, so it's not really his fault he’s kind of slow with learning shit.

He's also smart and funny and her favorite coworker by a mile. He’s rapidly climbing up her list of favorite humans, period. Even when they disagree, she never doubts he’s on her side.

"I don't want to care,” she admits.

"Yeah, that doesn't work," he says. She cocks her head, and he sighs, leaning forward on his elbows. "We all care about irrational shit, Clarke. You can't logic yourself out of feeling things. It's a lot better to just admit that, yeah, you're disappointed, and you wish he'd agreed to do something with you. Telling yourself you never wanted him to do anything in the first place isn't true and it doesn't help."

"Deep."

"Am I wrong?" he asks, and she bites her lip.

"No. I'm having a crappy Valentine's Day because my boyfriend doesn't even want to hang out with me."

"That's a good reason to be having a crappy Valentine's Day."

"Yeah, but it's not like I'm single."

"I'd rather be single than date Finn."

She elbows him. "Good thing you're not dating him."

"I'm serious, though," he says, eyes somber as he looks at her. "He's your boyfriend, it's your business, I get that. But it feels like every time we talk about him, you're saying another thing that he did that you're trying not to care about."

Clarke's heart lodges in her throat. "Happy Valentine's Day to me, huh?"

He shrugs. "You're the one who said it's supposed to be a good holiday for you. If the reason it's not is your boyfriend, maybe you'd be better off without the boyfriend. Maybe you'd be better off alone."

" _Maybe you'd be better off alone_ sounds like the worst Valentine's card ever."

"That's definitely _I gave you a VD for VD_ ," he says, and she laughs.

"Wow, you had that one all ready. Speaking from experience?"

He grins. "Maybe I have a future in shitty greeting cards."

They get distracted coming up with the worst messages they can, but the earlier conversation is still in the back of her mind. It's not the first time Bellamy's suggested she should dump Finn, but she's having more and more trouble coming up with reasons she hasn't yet. Inertia, maybe. The comfort of being in a relationship.

Just not wanting to deal with the conversation, honestly. It's easier to just stay with him.

"Fuck, that's stupid," she mutters, putting her head down on the counter. Bellamy's on his break, so she's alone with her thoughts, which is actually worse than hanging out with someone who's telling her to break up with her boyfriend. Which says some bad things about the state of her thoughts.

The bell over the door jangles and she jerks up, but it's just Bellamy coming back, shaking flakes of snow out of his curly hair. 

"Don't worry," he says. "You can go back to whatever you were doing."

"Meditating. You're back early."

"Didn’t have much to do." He leans against the counter next to her, and then, to her surprise, pulls a box out of his bag and hands it over. "You deserve something on Valentine's Day, okay?"

She blinks down at the candy, heart flipping over with an unexpected surge of warmth. It's nothing big, just a box of M&Ms, one that says _for my favorite teacher_ , even, like Bellamy was trying not to make it any weirder than it has to be. 

It still kind of makes her want to cry.

"You didn't have to."

He shrugs. "It was like a dollar fifty. Just--it's cool to want something today. I figured I could get you something. You're appreciated, okay?"

"You're appreciated too," she says. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he says. "Give me some of the M&Ms."

Business picks up after that, people coming in to pick up gifts or find last-minute stuff, and Indra even comes out from the back to help. There's enough going on that she shouldn't be thinking about Finn, but the M&Ms are still on the counter, and they keep catching her eye. On the one hand, it's not a big deal, just a cheap box of candy, almost no effort at all. On the other hand, it really _isn't_ a big deal, such a little thing, and Bellamy got it just to cheer her up, while her own boyfriend decided it was more important to take a stand than just acknowledge a holiday.

And she’s the only one who even knows he’s taking the stand, so, really, what the fuck.

Indra sends her to grab dinner at six, and when she gets back, the crowd has cleared out and Bellamy is sitting behind the register, looking slightly dazed.

"Everything okay?"

He rubs the back of his neck. "I got fired."

"Wait, what? Holy shit, why?"

"Because I'm terrible at this job?"

"You were getting better."

"Thanks, that really helps. It wasn't mean or anything," he adds. "She was keeping me through the holiday because you're understaffed, but--"

"But now Valentine's is over and you're fired."

"I can probably find a job that's a better fit for me.”

"I didn't think she'd actually _fire_ you," Clarke admits. "I figured you'd just--"

"Keep on being bad at the job?"

"Keep getting better."

He shrugs. "I'm not that broken up about it."

Clarke _is_ kind of broken up about it, if she's honest. It's not like they have to never see each other again, but they won't see each other nearly as often. They'll have to work for it, and she's willing to, but--

"I'm going to miss you."

"Yeah," he says, bumping his shoulder against hers. "I'm going to miss you too."

They get through the rest of the shift, and she's aware the whole time that it's his _last_ shift, that they won't ever do this again, and she's not really ready to let it go.

"We could go get a drink," she offers, once they've closed up, and he stuffs his hands into his pockets.

"You want to get a drink? On _Valentine's Day_?"

"Your girlfriend's bar won't be that bad, right? It’s only seven.”

"Ex-girlfriend," he reminds her. "I'll go if you want."

"You bought me chocolates, I'll buy you a drink. That's how it works, right?"

"It can work like that if you want. Do you need to tell your boyfriend?"

"He knows we're not hanging out," she says. "It was his idea. He doesn't get to be pissed if I'm not home."

"It's your relationship," he says, with a shrug, and she just smiles and leads the way to the bar.

Gina is Clarke's only reference for Bellamy's own relationships, and she doesn't really know how to interpret her. She's pretty and nice and fun, but Clarke has no idea what they were like as a couple, or what went wrong. Bellamy feels like he'd be a good boyfriend. Clarke wouldn't have let him go, if she were Gina.

But they're on good terms, and that's more than Clarke manages with most of her exes. So maybe she should try to learn from their example.

Gina grins at the sight of them, has a beer waiting for Bellamy by the time they elbow their way to the bar.

"Valentine's date?" she asks. "Hey, Clarke, what are you getting?"

"Angry Orchard?"

"Got it."

"I got fired," Bellamy tells Gina. "We're in mourning."

"Condolences. I think there's a booth in the back you can grab. You’re still paying for your beer, though.”

Bellamy orders fries first, but then they settle in, Clarke drinking maybe more than she should because she's got so many things she doesn't want to be thinking about, Bellamy matching her for reasons of hisown. By their fourth round, they're both sloppy and smiley, and Clarke finds herself nudging his foot.

"Hey."

His smile is a little goofy. "Hi. Are you playing footsie with me?"

"No."

"Good. Because you have an asshole boyfriend, so—“

"I do have an asshole boyfriend." She makes herself focus back on the matter at hand. "Seriously, why did you get fired? I know you're not _great_ , but--"

"My own stupidity, honestly."

"You're not stupid, Bellamy."

He smiles into his glass. "I kind of am. She thought I couldn't work without you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I spent so long acting like I needed you to teach me everything that she started believing it."

"You _did_ need me to teach you everything."

"Not anymore. I just--" He bites his lip in a distracting way. "Fuck, Clarke, you're the only reason I even _liked_ that job. I would have quit after a week if you weren’t there. I know you've got a boyfriend and I'm an asshole for even--"

"For what?" she asks. There's something in her chest that feels like it's trying to escape, this giant, wondrous hope. It could be something else, but--it could be this, too.

It could be them.

"You're amazing," he says. "And if I thought your boyfriend got that, I'd try to talk myself out of it."

"Out of--"

"You. I'm so into you. You don't have to say anything, or--" He sighs, rubs his face. "I was going to regret it if I never told you. And I didn't know if--"

"You like me," she says, still not quite believing it.

"You're kind of awesome, yeah."

It’s a lot to take in, but there’s really only one response. "I really need to dump Finn."

“I keep telling you, yeah. But that should be—do it because you want to dump him.”

She’s already fumbling for her phone. “There’s like a recovery period, right?”

“A what?”

“I need to wait however many days between breaking up with him and jumping you.”

A smile blooms on his face, bright and big. “You’re going to jump me?”

“Yeah, like—as soon as I’m allowed to. As soon as possible. How many days is it?”

“I don’t think there’s a rule.”

She pulls her phone out and finds the last text she got from Finn— _Wait you’re hanging out with Bellamy from work?_ —and scowls at it.

“Okay, well. I was going to dump him anyway.”

“Yeah, I hope that’s not just me.”

“It was a lot you,” she says, focusing hard on her fingers as she types: _I know you don’t think Valentine’s Day is romantic, so you won’t mind that I’m breaking up with you_. She reads it over twice, sends it, and then looks back up at Bellamy. He’s still beautiful. “Not just liking me, that’s kind of a bonus. But telling me I can do better. That he’s not good.”

“You can and he’s not.”

“I know. I dumped him. And you’re better, so I should be all set.”

“I want to be better.” He clears his throat. “Which is why you’re getting a cab home.”

“I am?”

“If you want to date me, you tell me tomorrow. When you’re sober. And definitely broken up with Finn.”

“No drunken hookups?” She’s trying to sound disappointed, but she can still feel her own smile. 

“I don’t want a drunken hookup,” he says, suddenly sounding very sober, and Clarke feels herself sobering in response.

“No, me neither.”

“So we should say goodnight.”

Her phone buzzes on the table, probably Finn arguing with her, and she needs to deal with that too. Maybe she’ll just reiterate and block his number. They’ve been going out for a few months, but now so long she owes him much. 

“Yeah,” she says. “We can do that.”

He manages to find her a cab right away, insists that she takes the first one because he’s Bellamy, and that’s just who he is. 

He’s going to be such a good boyfriend.

“I’ll talk to you soon?” he offers, pushing a few stray strands of her hair off her face. “Let me know you get home safely.”

“I will. And Bellamy?”

“Yeah?”

She pulls him down and kisses him, quick and warm. He tastes like beer and frost, and he smells like home, and she’s going to do this again, as soon as possible. And as much as possible. All the damn time.

“I had a really great Valentine’s Day,” she tells him. “Thanks.”

He looks a little dazed, but snaps out of it. “Me too, yeah. Talk to you tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” she says. “It’s a date.”


End file.
